Waring: Lessons learned in real time

Wednesday

My work has required extensive travel as of late. Most of my trips have been routine in nature, except for a recent experience at a hotel in uptown Albuquerque, N.M.

It was around 7 p.m. and getting dark, and I had just returned from my walk to the Chili's restaurant adjacent to my hotel. I entered my room, turned on the TV and began to settle in to watch the evening news.

That was when I heard what sounded like a voice shouting something over a loudspeaker. At first, I thought it was just a part of the news show on the TV. Then it I heard it again, even louder this time, and realized that it was actually coming from the direction of the hotel parking lot.

I pulled back the curtain and looked down from my sixth-floor window. The parking lot was filled with people scurrying toward the hotel and surrounded by the flashing lights of police cars and firetrucks.

I opened the window slightly and listened.

"This is the Albuquerque police," was the message blaring over the loudspeaker. "Everyone go into the hotel and stay inside your rooms."

The message continued to repeat until the parking lot of both the hotel and the restaurant were empty except for parked cars and emergency workers. Suddenly, a police helicopter appeared overhead and began to circle low over the hotel roof.

It was just like something from a movie.

We had been placed in a state of lock-down.

I decided to use the video recording device on my phone to capture what was happening. I uploaded the video to my Facebook page, wrote a short message describing what I was seeing outside my hotel and sent it out on the Internet.

What immediately followed was a series of comments coming from friends all over the country.

"Get away from that window, young lady!" wrote a friend in Arkansas.

"Keep us posted, Lisa," wrote another friend in Idaho.

"Are you OK?" was a message coming from Fayetteville.

"Saying a prayer, ma'am," wrote a friend from Hope Mills.

"Lisa, Lisa, what have you done now?" joked another friend.

These comments were followed by other messages from other friends in other states all across the country. Here I was in Albuquerque, yet my friends and family throughout the country knew exactly what was happening to me, in real time, and could actually see it on the video I posted.

Strangely enough, I still had no clue why the hotel had been placed in a state of lock-down. I called the front desk, but they said they did not know.

Then a message was posted from a friend in Greensboro. She had checked the Internet for breaking news in Albuquerque and discovered that there was a man with a gun running from police near the hotel. The police had surrounded him and had ordered the hotel and restaurant locked down because it was an immediate threat to public safety.

I watched out my window as two white vans pulled into the parking lot. Two members of what appeared to be a police SWAT team emerged from one of the vehicles. The officers were armed with backpacks and rifles, and they slowly began to make their way through the parking lot.

They entered the front doors of the restaurant.

A few minutes later, I heard several explosions, which later I learned came from police flash bombs. This was followed by shouts and several rifle shots. Then there was a period of silence except for the siren of one ambulance making its way down the street toward the hotel.

Unfortunately, this situation did not have a happy ending. I found out the next morning that the gunman was killed by police in the alley just beside the hotel and restaurant.

With so many tragedies as of late, the event in Albuquerque made me take pause. We can never take our personal safety for granted. Tragedy can strike at any time and in any circumstance. Thanks to some brave men and women in law enforcement, it was fortunate that no others were hurt, especially with so many people in and around the busy hotel and restaurant.

This incident reminded me of just how small and connected our world has become through technology and social media. I was able to share an experience one might only have imagined as "breaking news" on television in real time with friends and family all over the country using a simple cellphone and a Facebook page.

Lisa Carter Waring, a retired educator and consultant, can be reached at lcart99@aol.com.

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